Heywood (Campbell) Broun

Journalist, born in Brooklyn, New York, USA. Amiable in person and beset with phobias, he was fiery and fearless in print, and was ousted as a New York World columnist in a storm over his criticism of the Sacco-Vanzetti verdict (1928). He showed his concern for social issues as a columnist for the Telegram (1928–39). He was a co-founder and first president of the American Newspaper Guild.

Heywood Campbell Broun (December 7, 1888 - December 18, 1939) was an American journalist, sportswriter and newspaper columnist and editor in New York City.

In 1917 Broun married writer-editor Ruth Hale, a feminist and founder of the Lucy Stone League, an organization that fought for women to keep their maiden names after marriage.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, he is best remembered for his writing on social issues and his championing of the underdog.

Along with his friends the critic Alexander Woollcott, writer Dorothy Parker and humorist Robert Benchley, Broun was a member of the famed Algonquin Round Table from 1919-1929.

His professional career began writing baseball stories in the sports section of the New York Morning Telegraph. He worked at the New York Tribune from 1912—1921 rising to drama critic before transferring to the New York World (1921–28). In 1928 he moved to the Scripps-Howard newspapers, including the New York World-Telegram, where it appeared until he moved it to the New York Post just before his death.

Broun was fairly decent drama critic.

In 1930, Broun ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Socialist.

He died of pneumonia at age 51 in New York City.

Broun is buried in the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York (about 25 miles north of New York City).

The Newspaper Guild sponsors an annual Heywood Broun Award for outstanding work by a journalist, especially work that helps correct an injustice.

His works include

The A.E.F. (1918) The Boy Grew Older (1922) Gandle Follows His Nose (1926) It Seems to Me (1935) Collection of columns Collected Edition (1941) Another collection of columns

Broun said, "Repartee is what you wish you'd said."